Trending
HNA spent $40B on real estate, other companies in two years
Chinese conglomerate won’t “overpay every time”: report
China’s HNA Group, which is in contract to buy the Midtown office tower at 245 Park Avenue for $2.2 billion and recently closed on the purchase of the Wildenstein mansion for a record-breaking $79.5 million, isn’t just busy buying New York real estate.
With the recent announcement that HNA plans to buy the Singapore logistics provider CWT for $1 billion, the company has inked more than $40 billion worth of deals in just over two years, the Financial Times reported.
And while some are concerned that the rapid expansion is based on lax standards, people who work closely with HNA say the company remains a disciplined buyer.
“Everyone thinks that because they are keen to buy assets abroad they will overpay every time,” one person who has worked with the company told the newspaper. “But the reality is that they are very scrupulous and overspending isn’t their thing. It’s not a Chinese thing.”
HNA considered buying Fortress Investment Group but walked away because the price was too high, three sources told the newspaper. Japan’s SoftBank later agreed to buy Fortress for $3.3 billion. [FT] – Rich Bockmann